Synonyms for voting include suffrage, franchise, and political franchise.

I would like to focus on the term, franchise.

FRANCHISE. This word has several significations: 1. It is a right reserved to the people by the constitution; hence we say, the elective franchise, to designate the right of the people to elect their officers. 2. It is a certain privilege, conferred by grant from the government, and Vested in individuals.
2. Corporations, or bodies politic, are the most usual franchises known to our law. They have been classed among incorporeal hereditaments, perhaps improperly, as they have no inheritable quality.
3. In England, franchises are very numerous; they, are said to be royal privileges in the hands of a subject. Vide 3 Kent, Com. 366; 2 Bouv. Inst. n. 1686; Cruise,' Dig. tit. 27; 2 Bl. Com. 37; 15 Serg. & Rawle, 130; Finch, 164.

INCORPORATION. This term is frequently confounded, particularly in the old books, with corporation. The distinction between them is this, that by incorporation is understood the act by which a corporation is created; by corporation is meant the body thus created. Vide Corporation.

INCORPORATION, civil law. The union of one domain to another.

INCORPOREAL. Not consisting of matter.
2. Things incorporeal. are those which are not the object of sense, which cannot be seen or felt, but which we can easily, conceive in the understanding, as rights, actions, successions, easements, and the like. Dig. lib. 6, t. 1; Id. lib. 41, t. 1, l. 43, 1; Poth. Traite des Choses, 2.

The previous post contained legal definitions of assorted terms and sub-terms associated either by synonym of implication with the word, voting.

Let us examine the etymology of a few of these terms.

vote (n.)
mid-15c., from L. votum "a vow, wish, promise, dedication," noun use of neuter of votus, pp. of vovere "to promise, dedicate" (see vow). The verb in the modern sense is attested from 1550s; earlier it meant "to vow" to do something (1530s). Related: Voted; voting.suffrage
late 14c., "prayers or pleas on behalf of another," from O.Fr. suffrage (13c.), from M.L. suffragium, from L. suffragium "support, vote, right of voting," from suffragari "lend support, vote for someone," from sub "under" (see sub-) + fragor "crash, din, shouts (as of approval)," related to frangere "to break" (see fraction). The meaning "right to vote" is first found in the U.S. Constitution, 1787.franchise (n.)
late 13c., from O.Fr. franchise "freedom, exemption; right, privilege" (12c.), from variant stem of franc "free" (see frank). Sense narrowed 18c. to "particular legal privilege," then "right to vote" (1790). Meaning "authorization by a company to sell its products or services" is from 1959.franchise (v.)
late 14c., from O.Fr. franchiss-, pp. stem of franchir "to free" (12c.), from franc (see frank). Franchising is from 1570s; the commercial licensing sense is from 1966. Related: Franchisee; franchiser; franchisor.enfranchise
early 15c., "to set free," from O.Fr. enfranchiss-, prp. stem of enfranchir "to set or make free; grant a franchise to;" from en- "make, put in" (see en- (1)) + franc "free" (see franchise). Meaning "to admit to membership in a state" (generally with reference to voting privileges) is from 1680s. Related: Enfranchised; enfranchisement.frank (adj.)
c.1300, "free, liberal, generous," from O.Fr. franc "free (not servile), sincere, genuine, open, gracious; worthy" (12c.), from M.L. Franc "a freeman, a Frank" (see Frank). The connection is that only Franks, as the conquering class, had the status of freemen. Sense of "outspoken" first recorded in English 1540s.Frank
one of the Germanic people that conquered Celtic Gaul from the Romans c.500 C.E. and called it France, from Frankish *Frank (cf. O.H.G. Franko, O.E. Franca). The origin of the ethnic name is uncertain; it traditionally is said to be from the old Germanic word *frankon "javelin, lance" (cf. O.E. franca; also Saxon, traditionally from root of O.E. seax "knife"), their preferred weapon, but the reverse may be the case. In the Levant, this was the name given to anyone of Western nationality (cf. Feringhee).frank (n.)
short for frankfurter, by 1916, Amer.Eng. Related: Franks. Franks and beans attested by 1953.frank (v.)
"to free a letter for carriage or an article for publication," 1708, from aphetic form of Fr. affranchir, from the same source as frank (adj.). Related: Franked; franking.incorporate (v.)http://www.etymonline.com/graphics/dictionary.gif
late 14c., "to put (something) into the body or substance of (something else)," from L.L. incorporatus, pp. of incorporare "unite into one body," from L. in- "into, in, on, upon" (see in- (2)) + corpus (gen. corporis) "body" (see corporeal). Meaning "to legally form a body politic" is from 1460s. Related: Incorporated; incorporating.unincorporated
1715, from un- (1) “not” + pp. of incorporate.incorporation
late 14c., incorporacioun, "act or process of combining of substances; absorption of light or moisture," from O.Fr. incorporacion or directly from L.L. incorporationem (nom. incorporatio), noun of action from pp. stem of incorporare (see incorporate). Meaning "the formation of a corporate body" (such as a guild) is from early 15c.

Incorporation, n. The act of uniting several persons into one fiction called a corporation, in order that they may be no longer responsible for their actions. A, B and C are a corporation. A robs, B steals and C (it is necessary that there be one gentleman in the concern) cheats. It is a pundering, thieving, swindling corporation. But A, B and C, who have jointly determined and severally executed every crime of the corporation, are blameless. [Ambrose Bierce, 1885]​

Voting is a privilege granted by a political body within a society or body politic.
An individual has to be considered a member of that political society or body politic before receiving the privilege of voting.
An individual is incorporated into the corporate body becoming a member entitling that member to rights and duties through that membership.

We could say that this is all part and parcel of political theology.

The forms and terms were created by the Romans.
In turn, these were adopted by the Roman Catholic Church.
The RCC, then influences law throughout the European world including English Common Law.

The United States' is bound to all of this by way of its history through England.

So as long as we are members of the group we can vote. Who controls the membership?

Click to expand...

That, my friend, is an excellent question .

Using a body politic as an example:

The body politic itself is an association.

Some of members will be born into the body politic by right of blood (jus sanguins) being descendants of ancestors who were members. This is the so-called 'natural born citizen'.

The legislature and judiciary determine the qualifications for naturalization (bringing an alien into the body politic). The legislature authors the qualifications. The judiciary will interpret these qualifications when a controversy pertaining thereto is brought before its tribunals.

The legislature will typically author the qualifications through naturalization acts.

Bringing an alien into a body politic is the process of naturalization.
The process of naturalization and induction into the body politic thereto is also performed by the judiciary.
The inductee takes a test, recites an oath, finalized by receiving a certificate of citizenship.

In the modern era, a child is inducted into the society by way of the certificate of live birth.